The present invention relates to aircraft instrument panels and more particularly concerns avionics displays and even more particularly relates to avionics displays with improved mounting capabilities.
In recent years there has been a trend in the avionics industry to consolidate numerous flight instruments into several multi-purpose display devices. A further trend has been to reduce the number of multi-purpose display devices by increasing the display area on each single display.
Historically, aircraft cockpits are usually quite crowded and allow very little room for maintenance workers to operate comfortably. In the past, it is often difficult for aircraft maintenance personnel to remove and or install avionics equipment in the aircraft instrument panel. This difficulty is exacerbated when the displays grow larger in size and weight.
Typically, the aircraft instrument panel includes therein some structual portions of the aircraft. Avionics mounts are attached to these structual portions, usually by screws, bolts, etc. The avionics equipment is then secured to the mount with screws, bolts, etc.
While this system of mounting avionics displays has enjoyed considerable use in the past, it does have several serious drawbacks. First of all, it is often difficult for the maintenance personnel to remove the avionics equipment because they must loosen the screws, etc. being careful to properly grasp the equipment etc. and then extract the equipment by using one hand to pull on the equipment and using the other to support its weight. Equipment is occasionally dropped by the maintenance personnel, either immediately after extraction or immediately before insertion because of the physical contortions they are often required to undergo because of the crowded and cramped nature of aircraft cockpits. When the equipment is these newer and larger avionics displays, which often are heavy and contain bulky and fragile cathode ray tubes or other displays screens, this can be extremely expensive. Thirdly, the maintenance personnel occasionally damage the panel or neighboring instruments when the tools which are used to loosen the screws or pry the equipment out come in contact with the panel or the neighboring instruments.
Consequently, there exists a need for improvement in the mounting of avionics display systems.